William Van Alen was born in Brooklyn, New
York in 1883. While he attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, he worked
in the office of Clarence True. He also worked for several firms in New
York, before he won the 1908 Lloyd Warren Fellowship which allowed him
to study in Europe. In Paris, Van Alen studied in the atelier of Victor
Laloux at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

In 1911, Van Alen returned to New York,
where he formed a partnership with H. Craig Severance. The partnership
became known for its distinctive multistory commercial structures which
abandoned the historic formula of base, shaft, and capital. The
partnership dissolved around 1925 and Van Alen continued to practice on
his own in New York.

Van Alen is best known for his design of
the Chrysler Building, often praised as the greatest example of Art Deco
style skyscrapers and the perfect monument to American capitalism.
Although the Chrysler Building is now highly regarded, his career
suffered after its completion due to accusactions made against him by
the powerful client, William P. Chrysler. He died in 1954.